Habib tortured, says Amnesty report

Page Tools

A new Amnesty International report has supported claims that an
Australian detainee at Guantanamo Bay has been tortured.

In May, a former British detainee at the United States-run camp
in Cuba, Jamal al-Harith, said he saw Australian Mamdouh Habib
bleeding from his mouth and ears and collapse after four days of
sleep deprivation.

Amnesty quotes a freed Swedish detainee, Mehdi Ghezali, as
saying he was interrogated for 14 to 16 hours at a time and moved
between cells to stop him sleeping.

"I once saw how the guards treated an Australian prisoner in
this way, by moving him from cell to cell and thus preventing him
from getting any sleep," he said. "At the end, there was blood
coming from both his nose and his ears. He was so tired."

Mr Ghezali did not name the Australian but other reports have
described Mr Habib bleeding after mistreatment.

Meanwhile, Melbourne lawyer, Lex Lasry, QC, has told a law
conference that the other Australian detainee at Guantanamo Bay,
David Hicks, would not get a fair trial because the US military
wanted him convicted.